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hello everyone, 

just a newbie here with some questions In regards to my wiring and battery.  But first a little background and my agenda.  my car is an 07 Volkswagen rabbit 4 door 2.5l auto.  I purchased this car as a commuter car, as my 01 Jeep Cherokee wasn't good in the fuel mileage area.  when I purchased the rabbit used, there was some previous audio work already done.  there was a Pioneer double din display installed, along with a power amp for the mids.  Now maybe I am the little over kill type, but I don't feel that the 4 awg power/ground wire is adequate enough. especially considering its CCA.

Now in my Jeep I ran 1/0 welding cable, that mild system was a mean machine powering a Kicker CVR 2 ohm 10" sub in a sealed box, along with a MTX mid amp powering 4 kicker ks600s.  

i don't think 1/0 is necessary in my Rabbit let alone my Jeep.  I am working on a similar system,  though my current mid amp is an audio planet 1200watt 4 channel amp and my sub is a Skar audio rp350.1 with a ix 10v 2.  I may upgrade the Skar, but won't know until my sub is broke in.  my goal is a loud and clear system.  

I was thinking of upgrading my wire to 2 awg, doing the big 3, and replacing my battery. so I thought would get you opinions.  one thing that comes to mind with my Jeep when I was pushing my system,  my lights and volt meter would drop.  I never performed the big three with it nor did I get a better battery.   my concern is that I will have the same issue and along with my battery not testing so well, I will end up dead in the water someday. 

some day I will focus on the door speakers, eq, and crossovers.  but for now, I want to focus on adequate power.

 

thanks

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So the 4 channel is 400wrms and the 350.1 is 350wrms. Being 750w, you wont need anything more than an upgraded stock battery (or what I would do is get a small AGM to hide somewhere and use as a distribution block for the wires that will then go to the amps) and big 3 (that wouldnt really be needed). Big 3 is a logical first step that is cheap, but with that little of power draw, you probably wont see any real improvement from doing it (unless you plan on adding more later on). 

As for the amplifiers, you could run 4ga OFC wire and split it to 2 8ga OFC wires once to the amp if you wanted. 1/0 is dumb overkill in your jeep, and if it makes you feel better, sure run 2ga and split it to 2 4ga wires at the amps. 4ga OFC is plenty good for up to about 1500w @ 20ft.

If your lights are dimming, that probably means you are dropping into the 11v range which is bad, that is a clear indicator of you need to turn it down or you need to upgrade something in the electrical system. 

29408240963_9908a51930_o.png
Best Score to Date : 160.5 dB Outlaw (47Hz)[4 XM 15's & 2 Taramps Bass 12k's]

BL :  http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/147800-chevyboy95s-4-15s-7krms-wall-1533-db-on-half-power/
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/hitemwiththeflex/

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will the small agm ve added along with the original battery?  does that get charged from the cars Alt.?  if I went with an upgraded battery,  what would be recommended?

Your saying that 4 gauge ofc is more than adequate for my system?  if so, sounds good to me.

the 1/0 in the jeep wasnt much cost at the time, so no worries there.  why turn it down isn't loud the point?

thanks for the pointers. 

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40 minutes ago, duder said:

will the small agm ve added along with the original battery?  does that get charged from the cars Alt.?  if I went with an upgraded battery,  what would be recommended?

Your saying that 4 gauge ofc is more than adequate for my system?  if so, sounds good to me.

the 1/0 in the jeep wasnt much cost at the time, so no worries there.  why turn it down isn't loud the point1f601.png

thanks for the pointers. 

I would find the spec of the stock alt. whats the Amperage it puts out. A good AMG under the hood should be enough. If you want to improve the electrical by doing the big 3 in 4 gauge or 0 gauge it surely wouldn't hurt and SHCA (Sky High Car Audio) has budget friendly kits. From there you can run 2 4 gauge runs to your amps or a 0 gauge and then split to 2 4 gauge. There is a more than one way to do it.

It's always best to start with the electrical system first to make sure it's solid. If you find its lacking you can always add a small battery in the rear later. And yes, the alt charges all battery's you have in the vehicle.

Take pictures and start a build log on here. No system is too small to document and it's a good example for others. And for members to help guide you thru any issue's.

 

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one thing I noticed, is that wire seems to jump from 4 gauge to 1/0 with not much in between. 

as I work with electrical powered equipment, such as 80 volt fork lifts, 24-48 forklifts and aeri work platforms. I do have access to battery terminals or rings and crimpers/cutters for up to 4/0.  so none of that is a problem.   plus my dad is a TV repairman, so hes got an awesome set of tools.

I will continue to do so searching and reading, as I need to see some ideas on how to perform a clean install and learn more.  

in my jeep, I ran the 1/0 back to the hatch and split there with 4 gauge.   one thing I seemed to notice,  is that some seem to run the power wire into the fire wall, then back the trunk/hatch area.  why not just run it under the car along some framework or a like?  I have it this way in my jeep for the past 10 years with no issues. 

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Car audio wire almost always jumps 8 to 4 to 1/0. If you go welding cable (my favorite) you can get just about any AWG you want, 8,6,4,2,0,00,000,0000 etc. Plus, its generally easier on the wallet and 100% copper. People generally run through the firewall because most of the time it is 1 run of wire. For me, having 4 2/0 cables, it is 1000 times easier to just run it down the frame and cut a hole and grommet it in the rear somewhere.

Most of the time the difference between a clean install and one that isnt is taking that extra 5-10minutes to do the "thing" you were about say "ahh, it doesnt really matter" to.

29408240963_9908a51930_o.png
Best Score to Date : 160.5 dB Outlaw (47Hz)[4 XM 15's & 2 Taramps Bass 12k's]

BL :  http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/147800-chevyboy95s-4-15s-7krms-wall-1533-db-on-half-power/
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/hitemwiththeflex/

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Knukonceptz also has good wire for a decent price. For batts look into kinetik or xs power. Im running a single run of 4 gauge knu ofc with stock batt and a kinetik hc600 in back with big 3 in knu 4 gauge ofc on a stock 136 amp alt. Only got around 1100 rms atm and lights dim a tad but they will unless u get hids. Big 3 will always help even on a stock vehicle. If u plan on blasting on it for extended periods id deffinately do the big 3 with an upgraded stock batt and a small reserve batt. Otherwise youll most likely see dimming from low voltage.

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  • 2 weeks later...

hey folks, I never took the opportunity to thank you for your advice.   I have a idea what direction I am going to go.  I more than likely won't do anything until fall as spring/summer activities are in full swing.   I will start a build thread when I do.

thanks

 

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